Review: A Place To Fear by G.M. Hague

There are odd, frightening lights hovering above the river and crop circles in the fields. The strange sightings aren’t just limited to the night sky, however. Glimpses of ghostly apparitions are seen through the windows of shuttered houses – the tortured spirits of people only recently buried. The situation gets rapidly worse as the eerie lights are more brazen, the dead are seen walking the streets late at night and in the local cemetery the soil over the graves is starting to stir …

There is no escape for Michael Garrett and Kerry Wentworth, two newcomers to Hickory. The outside world is cut off and anyone attempting to enter or leave the town never finish the journey. Hickory has become a bad place to be – a place to fear.

Review: I once lived in a small, rural town, out in the middle of nowhere, Washington. It was surrounded an excessive amount of endless rolling wheat fields, and the roads just seemed to go nowhere. It was a 30 minute drive from our small community of 500 people to the nearest fast food, a Subway, and a 40 minute drive to the nearest coffee shop, a Starbucks.

While I may not be able to directly relate to the surrounding culture of this book, which is mid-1990’s Australia, I can definitely relate to it’s setting. A grisly horror story set in a small rural town, in the middle of nowhere. The inherent close-knitted-ness, and creepiness, of small towns is potentially apparent to anyone who drives through one of these haunts, but having lived there, I can tell you that G.M. Hague paints a real picture of what life is like.

This novel is a story about a small town that comes under a zombie siege directly caused by aliens. Normally, I hate the combination of zombies and aliens in the same narrative. It seems to stretch, and pull, and seem too far-fetched for me to get immersed. I can safely say that in the zombie/alien hybrid arena, this is by FAR my favorite. The author was able to pull both creatures in, giving the zombies a fresh breath of not-cliche awesome. Zombies not dying by being hit in the head? I’m ok with that.

This is a story that has many layers to it, far too many to cover in a short 500 word review. It has horror, zombies, corrupt politicians, infuriating moments, somber moments, and moments where you shake the book screaming “WHY?!” Overall, while a little cliched in parts, I greatly enjoyed this book. If you want a novel that keeps you guessing, and will make you not want to ever walk out in the dark in the woods ever again, this is definitely for you.

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